From the MTA President: March 2006
Standards, Standards, Standards!
Perhaps the last thing you want to hear more about is standards! However, an occurrence at the February 23rd Board of Education meeting should cause all of us to sit up and take notice of a seemingly double standard.
Mr. Estrada, during the Roundtable portion of the board meeting and about an hour and a half after a visibly upset parent spoke at the microphone, chose to vehemently reply to the comments made by the parent (who by then had left). Clearly, Mr. Estrada could not control his emotions and his verbal comments were inappropriate, callous, challenging, defensive and arrogant. Most shocking was when Mr. Estrada finished his verbal tirade, he used a well recognized and offensive hand gesture (the under the chin motion with a flick of the fingers outward) as his grand finale.
Because of the shocking ending to his comments, the focus of Mr. Estrada’s response to the high school parent has been lost. The parent, when voicing her very emotional concerns, stated that the board members didn’t seem to care. Interestingly, other board members seemed able to recognize the context of a parent’s concerns and they correctly chose not to respond from a personal level. Unfortunately, Mr. Estrada was unable to do so and, prior to his “parting gesture,” this board member very graphically demonstrated and voiced how he would not be listening when this particular parent returns to the microphone. Not once, but twice, Mr. Estrada used his pencil to act out his statement that what he heard would “be going in one ear and out the other.” Equally as offensive, was Mr. Estrada’s defiant attitude. The “posturing” –the grimacing, the head bobbing, and the verbiage challenging a parent to “come back and tell me I’m a jerk, tell me I’m whatever,” followed by a repetition of stating and acting out “in one ear and out another” is totally unacceptable from an elected official chosen to represent this district.
Furthermore, this is not the first time that Mr. Estrada has displayed a lack of control and shown poor judgment. His very negative comments and expressions of disgust regarding the MTA’s paid ad have not been forgotten, nor have we forgotten Mr. Estrada’s comparison of the high school teachers to the New Orleans police (after the horrendous, rain filled, hours long high school evacuation back in the fall).
What is the point of my replaying yet another low point from a Board of Education meeting?
Standards! Standards, Standards! Our students are held to standards. We are held to standards. SED is certainly vocal about standards! What about our Board of Education members? What are their standards? Maybe I should ask where are their standards?
There exists a joint code of conduct developed by the NYS School Superintendents and the New York State School Boards Association. Within that document it is stated that school board members are expected to act with civility, show mutual respect, practice and promote ethical behavior, instill respect for the community, and inspire and nurture the highest level of ethics and integrity. So, what happens if appropriate ethical conduct is not demonstrated?
In the 30th Edition of School Law (section 2:38), it is clearly stated that “Nothing in Education Law authorizes a board of education or the commissioner of education to censure or reprimand a school board member.”
Well, well, well, just where does that leave us with this particular board member’s display of grossly inappropriate behavior? Here’s the sad realization; in all likelihood this is now over. It’s been in the Times Herald-Record (complete with video clip at www.recordonline.com), a printed comment of apology from Mr. Estrada ran in the corresponding newspaper article, and, at the March 9th BOE meeting, Mr. Estrada offered another apology to the viewing public.
Should that be enough? Do we let bygones be bygones? Do we trust that a lesson has been learned?
Many will ask why I am even bothering to write about this incident. The answer is “Standards!” Every day the teachers of this district are held to standards. We have professional expectations worded in our contract, the District’s Code of Conduct (page 6) has expectations for teachers and the State Education Department has strong language in education law that addresses professional conduct and behavior. In addition, Part 83 of the Commissioner’s Regulations is entitled “Determination of Good Moral Character.” As teachers, we have disciplinary procedures on both district and state levels.
It seems unbelievable that short of removing a school board member (allowable under Education Law and the Commissioner’s Regulations); there is not a process for disciplining a board member’s inappropriate conduct. Speaking of inappropriate conduct, for those who did not watch the March 9th BOE meeting, the board president astounded those watching when he revealed that he chose not to have letters read out loud that were sent to the district regarding Mr. Estrada’s actions of February 23rd! Mr. Crescenzo’s remarks were made during the Second Opportunity to Address the Board when a community member stepped to the microphone and asked why a letter that he had sent was not read under Written Communications as he had requested. Mr. Crescenzo revealed that he had decided not to read letters that were “inflammatory.” And, during the course of some back and forth dialogue with the person at the microphone, Mr. Crescenzo further stated that some letters were positive in nature. Yet, most astonishingly, he admitted to shredding all of the letters. What??? Letters sent to the Board of Education, whether positive or negative, were not read and were shredded??? What is going on at this level of the district?
Can you even imagine if any of us used challenging language to a parent, let alone an obscene hand gesture? What if we shredded important information that was to be shared with another group of people?
The MTA has been calling for clear and open communication with this Board of Education since last year. Our invitation to meet has been stalled (a variation on shredding?) by the board president since May 5, 2005. Our community seems to be totally desensitized to the immorality at the board level, evidenced by only one voice at the microphone on March 9th.
When will other Board of Education members decide to form a cohesive and collective backbone? By little or no response to the latest unprofessional actions of Mr. Estrada and Mr. Crescenzo, are the other board members showing the community a shared desensitivity or just plain impotence?
Maybe it’s time that the members of the Board of Education evoke Section 2:38 of Education Law that says “A School Board may criticize the actions of a board member for exhibiting poor judgment.”
Wouldn’t that be something? By speaking, truly communicating with one another, our Board of Education members could at least attempt to show the need for responsible and ethical behavior on this board. Let’s see these board members talk about re-establishing trust and let’s see them show acceptable behavior at the table. “Standards for All” perhaps that should be the new district motto.
In 2001, while more than two-thirds of Wal-Mart’s hourly workers were female, women held only one-third of managerial positions and constituted less than 15 percent of store managers. This is all despite women having had on average longer seniority and higher merit ratings than their male counterparts. 
